Well I said I could not engrave the plaques any smaller, is surprising what you can do if pushed, the larger of the plaques was not in scale, and way too big to fit where I wanted, so pulled out all the stops, this is what I achieved today, now I am happy
Merry Christmas to you all
regards Jeff

Thanks for the comments, would have loved to be able to hand engrave at that scale but at 70+ it’s hard enough to see the brass, like Robert I also bought an engraving machine (Elma) about 25 years ago for a project, this is the second time its been used since then
Regards Jeff

I thought I would play a bit more before I put the engraving machine away, I added the Royal cypher (George 6th) to the counter weight, no stencil just free hand, the engraving will be just visible when painted
regards Jeff

I started on the front shield as there were patches of light rust forming, and will need to be etch primed, the first thing I did was to replace the hinges as these are too chunky, and the 2nd and 4th hinge have locking tabs, this allows the top part to be locked in position, or folded forward and locked
regards Jeff

some more work on the shield, all of the brackets have been replaced or modified, if I were to do this again I would make a new shield and drill holes as needed, rather than plug ones not needed, the only upside is that many of the full size shields have been altered and plugged, just a few more tie downs and straps to add
regards Jeff

finally got the base coat on and put the major elements together, this was to check that all the mods were ok and not causing issues and binding, everything OK, still quite a bit to do, have not started the firing platform or the sighting gear.
A quick review of the kit, although I have changed and modified parts of the kit, this was for my enjoyment, and not necessary, 6 months since starting the build this is for me great value, the only thing I would change is to have the kit parts drilled 1/16th and supplied with 1/2 inch 1/16th copper rivets, these would pass through the frames and fixed with snaps, needing a lot less rivets
regards Jeff